A similar shifting device is known, for example, from the applicant's patent application No. DE 197 56 034 A1. This document discloses a shifting device with a gearshift lever, which is mounted pivotably about a shift axis and which can be moved forward and backward between two positions in a shift gate and has a detection device each in these shift end positions, and a shift command each is transmitted by the said detection devices to the automatic transmission connected with the shifting device. Consequently, such a shifting device makes possible a so-called sequential shifting, i.e., the gear of the automatic transmission can be upshifted and downshifted by one gear each by tapping the gearshift lever forward and backward.
One drawback of such “tap shifting devices” is that a plurality of shifting operations may possibly be necessary to reach a certain shifting situation and the gear actually selected must also be monitored at least optically in order to reach the particular desired position, preferably the “P” position, during shifting through.
Another similar shifting device is described in the patent application No. DE 199 16 924 A1. This unexamined German application shows a monostable “shift-by-wire shifting,” in which different positions of the transmission can be selected by tapping the gearshift lever, and another position can be selected by pushing beyond the first position. It is shown in FIG. 3 of this application that to select the park position, which corresponds to position 2, a pressure point must be bridged over in position 1. This implies the drawback that, for example, position “2” is reached and the “P” position can thus be selected by mistake due to pulling over when selecting the position “R.”